Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) on November 21, 2025 in New York City.
Spencer Pratt | Getty Images
Two factors pushed stock prices lower on Wall Street last week. A series of high-stakes numbers from Nvidia and the US employment report, which caused a bigger reaction than expected. But the leaves left behind after an investor was scalded by hot tea seemed to herald good news.
nevertheless Nvidia’s The company’s third-quarter results easily exceeded Wall Street expectations, but they did not allay concerns about high valuations and an unsustainable bubble in the artificial intelligence sector. Friends of the Magnificent Seven — Save alphabet — It was a losing week.
The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics also increased the pressure. Investors refrained from betting on a December interest rate cut after September payrolls came in much higher than economists expected. Timing didn’t help matters, as the report was delayed and hit when the market was already nervous.
By the end of Friday S&P500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average It fell about 2% this week, but Nasdaq Composite It fell 2.7%.
Still, there are glimmers of hope on the horizon.
On Friday, New York Fed President William Williams called current policy “moderately restrictive” and said he believed the central bank had “room” to lower interest rates. His comments led traders to raise their bets on a December rate cut to about 70% from 44.4% a week ago, according to the CME FedWatch tool.
And even though AI stocks fell sharply last week, Alphabet stock bucked that trend. Investors are impressed with the company’s new AI model, Gemini 3, and are hopeful that its custom chip development could rival Nvidia’s in the long run.
meanwhile, Eli Lilly’s Its entry into the $1 trillion valuation club is a reminder that market leadership does not belong to technology alone. In a market defined by narrow concentration, any sign of growing power is a welcome change.
Even within AI’s vast ecosystem, diversification may be exactly what this market needs right now.
What you need to know today
And finally…
Beijing music venue DDC was one of the latest venues to be forced to cancel performances by Japanese artists on November 20, 2025, due to rising bilateral tensions.
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Japanese concert in China suddenly canceled amid rising tensions
The escalating conflict between China and Japan has strengthened Beijing’s growing economic influence, with a penchant for sudden actions that can create uncertainty for businesses.
A few hours before Japanese jazz quintet The Blend performed in Beijing on Thursday, a plainclothes man entered the DDC Music Club during soundcheck. Afterwards, “the owner of the venue came up to me and said, ‘The police told me it’s closed tonight,'” music agent Christian Petersen-Clausen said.
— Evelyn Chen
Correction: This report has been updated to correct the spelling of Eli Lilly.
